Tuberculosis : Causes, Symptoms, And Treatment

Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes TB, has existed for centuries. The oldest recorded account of TB can be found in the literature by Hippocrates from around 460 BC (Tranotti, n.d.). However, at this point the infection was referred to as phthisis. Now at this time, this disease seemed to spell out the inevitable death for its prey. Hippocrates went so far as to advise his colleagues in the medical field to stay away from patients of the viral disease in order for the physicians not to lose their reputations due to the inevitability of their deaths. Later, in 1679, Dr. Franciscus Sylvius identified the anatomy and pathology of the disease. He was the first to identify actual tubercles, abscesses, and cavities in the lungs of patients as a result of the virus which led to its naming of Tuberculosis (A History of Tuberculosis Treatment, n.d.). About forty years later, English physician Benjamin Martin

While tuberculosis was never completely eliminated, there was a significant drop in cases and death rates, as a result of the BCG vaccine and new anti-tubercular drugs in the 1950’s.

The tubercle bacilli or the causative organism of tuberculosis was demonstrated by Robert Koch in 1882. He showed that

Tuberculosis (Mycobacterium tuberculosis), also known as TB, is a disease spread by respiratory inhalation of droplets that contain the bacteria. Tuberculosis is an ancient disease that has been traced back at least 9000 years. In 1882, Dr. Robert Koch was the first physician to describe Mycobacterium tuberculosis as the germ responsible for tuberculosis. However, treatment that was evidenced based was not put into practice until the 20th century. It is estimated that 2 billion people around the world are infected with the TB bacteria. Approximately 5 to 10 percent of these infected people will actual develop active TB and experience the life-threatening symptoms of the disease. Tuberculosis

Chapter 9 in Diseases and Human Evolution discusses tuberculosis in humans and cattle. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of tuberculosis is the visits to the veterinarian whenever we wanted to cross state lines with livestock from our farm. Though Arizona is considered a tuberculosis free state, New Mexico is not. Even though our livestock was coming out of a TB free state, we still were required to take our goats to the vet and have blood draws done. The chapter reminded me of the relevance of tuberculosis in society today, both in livestock and humans, and how it is still a disease we are struggling to control in some countries, even though it has been around for several thousand years.

Tuberculosis is one of the most infectious diseases in the world. With almost one third of the world infected with this virus, people are striving to help prevent the spread of this disease (NIAID, 2001). One prevention technique for tuberculosis is the BCG (Bacillus of Calmette and Guerin) vaccine. In the early twentieth century Calmette and Guerin worked together to isolate a strain of the disease creating the first BCG vaccine. Throughout the century the scientists improved the BCG vaccine and today there are several different strains of the vaccine available. However, even today its full effects on the disease are unknown. The exploration of the effects of the vaccine, the best

Now, scientists are warning signs of risks of tuberculosis and share information about bacterias and viruses. Today, when a new germ is known, they have a better chance of learning how to cure and fight it. Volunteers take the time to help in laborites in the United States, South America, Central America, and Asia. The World Health Organization reports that third of the world’s population is infected and eight million people get sick from tuberculosis that is identified to be helped by medicine from spreading the disease to

This paper discusses the historical aspect of the fatal and contagious disease now known as tuberculosis. It discusses the history of Tuberculosis beginning with Ancient Egyptian mummies to the most current discovery of TB. Greek philosopher such as Hippocrates and Plato observed the first cases of tuberculosis. They are two out of the many people that gradually discovered the TB out of the many. It talks about the different remedies that different philosophers and physicians came about that have been revised.

As the time progresses, the world population increasing exponentially which results in a higher spread of diseases. Even though it might seem like increasing population has nothing to do with Tuberculosis and it's reemergence in the 21st century, however, there are links that do provide some clue on a possible threat to the global health.

Tuberculosis is a 6000 years old disease, but the first time it infected human was in Africa 5000 years ago. Due to its danger it is called the white plague. It was transmitted to human by animals, so hunters were that first people who caught the disease. After that, the disease had spread to Europe and America through trade routes. This disease appeared in Ancient India, Ancient China, Classical antiquity, Pre-Columbian America, Europe: middle ages and renaissance, until Twentieth century. Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes tuberculosis was first discovered by Robert Koch in 24 march 1882, and he received the Nobel Prize for his discovery. Throughout the ages, tuberculosis has infected tens of millions of people, and killed

Tuberculosis has been with us since ancient times (Lawn & Zumla, 2011). The earliest recorded date of its presence in humans have been found in Egyptian mummies dating from 3000-2400BC (Zink, et al., 2003). Also known as consumption or white plague, it ravaged the lives in North America and Europe in the 18th and 19th century (McCarthy, 2009) . Finally the microbe that caused the disease, tuberculosis was discovered by Dr. Robert Koch, a German microbiologist, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine for his findings (Nobel Prize).

Tuberculosis(TB) is a highly contagious disease that primarily affects the lungs, although it can also be found in other body parts. The disorder is caused by a bacteria called myocardial tuberculosis, and is mostly spread through the air when an infected person coughs. Many years ago, tuberculosis accounted for nearly 30% of deaths in the US. In the 1940’s and 50’s, however, its fatality rate dropped significantly due to antibiotics and vaccinations. Since the outbreak of AIDS, tuberculosis has increasingly been an issue again since people with the disease cannot fight off TB (Bontrager & Lampignano 2005, Basic TB Facts 2012).

Tuberculosis was first discovered as a disease in 1882 by a scientist named Robert Koch (Rothman, 1994). Within a short period of time it was discovered that this was an infectious disease, along with being a disease that affected certain populations (Rothman, 1994). It was discovered that a vast majority of the individuals affected were either immigrant, therefore generally a minority population, or were of poor or working class status (Rothman, 1994). Several movements and directives were used during this time to attempt to stop the spread of tuberculosis, such as, “being outside in the clean air as much as possible, not drinking alcohol, and drinking plenty of clean water,” among others (Rothman, 1994). Between 1906 and 1919 a vaccine was developed by Albert Calmette and Camille Geurin, a pair of French scientists, to help prevent this terrible disease (Kupferschmidt, 2011). This BCG vaccine, or Bacillus

Tuberculosis was one of the first infectious diseases to be documented in human history and continues to afflict and co-evolve with humanity today. This disease is prevalent in mankind as well as in other animals through of the genus of bacteria called Mycobacterium. Mycobacterium tuberculosis, also known as “Bacillus of Koch,” is the species of tuberculosis most common in humans. It is estimated this causative bacterium evolved 50,000 years ago and was discovered in 1883 by Robert Koch (see figure 1). Koch discovered TB by comparing tuberculosis-infected tissue dissections from guinea pigs, brains, lungs of people who had died from blood-borne tuberculosis, and the lungs of chronically infected

Tuberculosis is among the fatal diseases that are spread through the air. It’s contagious, meaning that it spreads from one infected individual to another, and at times it spreads very fast. In addition to being contagious, the disease is an opportunist infection as it takes advantage of those with weak defense mechanism, and especially the ones with terminal diseases like HIV and AIDS. Tuberculosis is therefore among the major concerns for the World Health Organization due to its contagious nature (World Health Organization 1).